Pochettino’s news conference before the match had seen him reveal he had wanted to “kill” his players over the final day of last season, when they lost 5-1 at Newcastle and dropped to a third-place finish in the table.
Advertisement
“Obviously, we did not start very well, going behind early like that, and we were not at our normal tempo”, Kane said. Spurs are hoping to take another step forward after a strong campaign last season saw them finally qualify for the Champions League again, but the more interesting story here might be that of Everton.
Visitors Spurs came into their own in the second half, but it was not until the introduction of new signing Victor Janssen that they really began making inroads into the three-man Toffees backline.
Its all change at Everton this season as Ronald Koeman takes to the helm for his first full season at Goodison.
“You have to put stuff like that behind you”, Kane said following Friday’s draw at Goodison Park (via ESPN FC).
That said Everton were specifically set up to frustrate Spurs in attack, shut down attacking lanes, and quickly hit back when possible through Ross Barkley and Gerard Deulofeu.
“We don’t have that, but okay – it’s football and you can win against everybody”.
Everton too had a decent start to the season, and looked like challenging the Top6 for European football. “He came on and brought good energy, and looked to get in behind Everton, it helped us”.
The hosts ought to have doubled their lead in first-half stoppage-time, when Deulofeu seized on a poor backpass from Danny Rose and raced clear of Jan Vertonghen, but was denied by a smart save from Vorm.
“We conceded the goal very early in the game and it was a big thing for us to manage that and hard to recover the game”.
Two players are doubtful for Saturday’s match – full-back Seamus Coleman (ankle) and striker Romelu Lukaku (heel).
“Because I think we are, in terms of physical state, 70 per cent of what we need to be”.
“How you assess or measure the percentage of how your team is – for me it is very hard. A lot of us are still getting our fitness”. Mason Holgate, a member of that trio, was also one of three players making their first Everton starts, the other two being goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and defensive midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye.
“Because you never know – certain managers play poker. Before half-time we had a big opportunity to score the second goal which would have made it a totally different second half”.
Advertisement
“I have spoken that we may get one or two”, he told the BBC.
